Jazz Under The Stars • Wynton & Willie at the Hollywood Bowl

The Hollywood Bowl - The Symphony Under the Stars, originally uploaded by zilf.

When we went purchased our tickets for this show (as part of our summer concert series at the Bowl) we thought it was just going to be Wynton Marsalis & the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. As a huge Jazz and Wynton fan, I've been looking forward to seeing this line up for a while. Then, two days before the show we find out that Willie Nelson had been added as a special guest and that they had a new CD that was just released. All I can saw is COOL! The evening, the air, the music. . . cool. . . cool. . . cool.

Life is good when, you're with your sweetie with great seats at the Bowl. The Hollywood Bowl allows you to bring in food and booze. We enjoyed a healthy Wolfgang Puck's Chinoix Chicken Salad as well as some cherry's and strawberries that we had brought from home. Little wine for Polly, little Cown Royal for me. A cigar before the show and we were well on our way to a GREAT evening out.

The show was great. Some of the best jazz I've ever heard. When Willie came out halfway through the show the crowd was enthusiastic to hear these great musicians play together. They did not disappoint! Check out the video below. It says it all.



Sidenote on new CD

The event was simply billed as “Willie Nelson Sings the Blues,” but the historic two-night stand on January 12 and 13, 2007 at Jazz at Lincoln Center was far more than that. Call it a summit meeting between two American icons, Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis, two of the most significant figures in modern-day country and jazz, who discovered common ground in their love for jazz standards and the blues. Their performance stirred the sounds of New Orleans, Nashville, Austin and New York City into a brilliantly programmed mix that was equal parts down-home and cosmopolitan, with plenty of swing and just a touch of melancholy. To say that these shows were a hot ticket would be an understatement. Luckily, the tapes were rolling and the results of this unique collaboration now constitute the Blue Note album Two Men With The Blues for everyone who couldn’t cram into The Allen Room.